Singapore—According to Staff Sergeant Nur Fatwa Mahmood, he was told by his colleague First Warrant Officer Mohamed Farid Mohd Saleh to push Corporal Kok Yuen Chin into the well of Tuas View Fire Station on May 13, 2018, which led to Corporal Kok’s death.
Staff Sergeant Fatwa testified in court on Tuesday, July 23, that he heard First Warrant Officer Farid say, “Wa, tolak dia,” which translates as “Wa (the short form of Nur’s name) push him,” moments before the incident occurred.
After the victim was discovered at the bottom of the well half an hour later, when Staff Sergeant Fatwa asked if his subordinates had heard what the First Warrant Officer had said, they replied that they had not heard it.
Mr Farid is currently on trial for the death of Corporal Kok. He is contesting the charge that he instigated Mr Fatwa to push the victim into the 12m-deep pump well, where he drowned.
Five officers of the SCDF were charged concerning the death of Corporal Kok. Mr Fatwa was charged with one count of causing death by a rash act and one count of abetting the obstruction of justice. Mr Farid was charged with abetting a rash act causing death.
Staff Sergeant Adighazali Suhaimi was charged with intentionally obstructing the course of justice. First Senior Warrant Officer Nazhan Mohamed Nazi and Lieutenant Chong Chee Boon were charged with abetting a rash act causing grievous hurt by illegal omission.
There was a video of the police interviewing some SCDF staff, including Messrs Fatwa and Farid, after the drowning of Corporal Kok.
According to a report from TODAY Online, Mr Fatwa said to Mr Farid in Malay, “You told me to push him inside.” To which Mr Farid answered, “I asked him to sit there.”
After a minute Mr Fatwa repeated in Malay: “Just now, you said, right? Push him inside, is that correct or not? Don’t play me out, Farid.”
Then Farid told him, “I was behind you, over there.”
Mr Fatwa told the court that he felt “betrayed” when he heard Mr Farid’s words since it seemed to him that Mr Farid did not want to admit to what he had done.
During the celebration of CPL Kok’s coming Operationally Ready Date (ORD), he was pushed into the well at the fire station and never resurfaced. Thirty-six minutes later he was rescued from the 12-meter well but was already unconscious. While he was immediately brought to the hospital, where it was determined that Corporal Kok had succumbed to death by drowning.
According to Mr Fatwa, Corporal Kok wanted to enter the well of his own volition, but that Mr Farid told him to push him in.
Mr Fatwa raised his hand when Major Huang Weikang, the fire station’s commander, asked who had pushed the victim into he well. He had told his companions in Malay, We should be responsible for what we did together.”
Mr Fatwa has just finished serving his 13-month jail sentence. Since May 17, 2018, he has been suspended from service without pay and is looking for new employment.
Mr Farid’s trial continues on July 24, Wednesday./ TISG
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